Greetings my name is courtney battle and i’m the director of strategic partnerships and membership for hand i’m so excited to connect with each and every one of you today and really excited to be back in person for the first time in almost three years as you know our theme is homecoming in the
Park and it’s an ode to historically black colleges and universities or hbcus for short i’m a proud graduate of howard university otherwise known as the mecca or the real hu and at howard i had an opportunity to become involved in the first black greek letter sorority the alpha chapter of
Alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated which has been such a pivotal organization in my own life and my growth and development going to howard as well as participating in aka has changed my life for the better and one of the most important lessons that they’ve both driven home for me is
Service and giving back to others i think that’s translated into my work at hand as well as in other areas of my life in continued development and i encourage all of us to reflect on that today as we think about the why of what we do and how we can
Create more just and equitable communities hi my name is tonya wellins and i am president and ceo of greater washington community foundation i’m also a proud graduate of north carolina agricultural and technical state university amt where dreamers become achievers and where aggies do my commitment to scholarship and sisterhood and public service were
Nurtured and honed at a t i want to give a big ol shout out to all of my hbcu graduates but especially a big aggie pride to the aggies in the audience and an ooh to my source of delta sigma theta sorority incorporate hello hand my name is stacy spann i’m
The president and ceo of mid-city financial i’m also a proud alumnus of morehouse college the way morehouse and my experience at morehouse has shaped my leadership is inculcating compassion integrity hard work and ambition into every single thing i do but underlying all of that is a sense of community a sense of support
A sense that we are in fact betting on our next best brightest in vanguard it’s fitting that i wound up in housing and quite frankly my experiences at morehouse have have colored that in a way that that i couldn’t i could not shrug off my name is shalinda brown and
I am vice president of real estate for enterprise community development and a proud member of delta sigma data sorority incorporated for over 109 years our organization has been contributing back to the community through our five-point programs shout out to all those hdcus and divineline organizations represented here today
As i reflect on my trajectory over the last 25 years post college i can say with certainty that my hvcu experience has influenced me as a human being personally as well as professionally i attended fisk university for my undergraduate education after emigrating from the caribbean and residing in the
Us for only two years eventually i became immersed that it was where i needed to be i learned so much about the rich history and contributions that african african americans made to this country that i’m not sure i would have truly understood without that formal education
My hbcu experience at north carolina a t state university shaped my leadership by laying the foundation for what i think is the most important character a leader needs to have for themselves and that is confidence as a leader you need to have confidence in who you are as a person and your
Skill set at my hbcu i was fortunate to have professors and classmates believe in me even before i truly believed in myself so because of the support i was able to gain the confidence and ever since then i never doubted who i am and what i’m
Able to do hello my name is patrice williams johnson and i am from norfolk virginia i lived on campus of my hbcu in hampton virginia this year our long-standing hampton university president dr william harvey retired after 43 years i am grateful to be a part of that legacy of leadership and character
Dr harvey five priorities have led to my sets as well as me being a leader servant and entrepreneur shout out to my home by the sea the real hiu hi my name is natalie nickins gunn and i am the cfo of capital impact partners and cdc small business finance
I attended hampton university and also a proud member of delta sigma theta sorority incorporated and attending an hbcu has really taught me to not assume that all african americans attending hbcus are the same we all come from various backgrounds and are formed and shaped our ideas from you know different perspectives of our
Lives and that leads over into my professional life in ensuring that i see people for who they really are and understand who they are and not make assumptions hello to all i’m monica warren jones proud graduate of howard university school of b when i think of how my experience at hu shaped
Me as a leader two things come to mind first i am enough i went to howard because after being in spaces where i was the only person of color in certain school environments i yearned for a place to learn and grow with acceptance that didn’t consider how
I looked it is a privilege to have gone to howard university and with it comes responsibility somebody built that place and i was blessed to be there hi i’m maria day marshall director of the real estate development program at the university of maryland i am also a
Member of the hand board of directors i am a proud graduate of fisk university a historically black university located in nashville tennessee my years at fisk were some of the best in my life i enjoyed the collegial atmosphere and the nurturing environment and i was also instilled with a great
Deal of pride in my african-american heritage most importantly i received a great education at fisk while at fisk i pledge alpha kappa alpha sorority in the pie chapter which celebrated its centennial last year ski wee if i had to do it all over again i would not have chosen any other university to
Attend hi my name is kenyatta brunson and i am a proud graduate of coppin state university and hbcu in baltimore maryland when asked how did attending my hbcu shape my leadership i would say being a part of a small community where the professors within my
Major made it a point to know who i was as an individual what my strengths were and really honing in on how they were going to help me grow how they were going to help me find my voice and my place in this world how they were going to continue to push me
Not allow me to give up challenge me support me really helped shape me because it allowed me to see that there is space to grow but there’s not space to give up hi i’m greg here director of the community development administration and board member and fellow kappa state university alumnus
During my time at coppin i had the pleasure of working with several amazing professors what shaped my leadership most was the exposure and expectation of excellence so they say he who walks with the wise rules with the wise so shout out to the common state eagles nurturing potential transforming lives hampton university
Had a big influence on my leadership style primarily through empathy and executive presence mpu is a big deal at hampton university how to take care of others how to look out for others and how to make sure that you’re really helping them improve their stay on the campus the second thing was
Executive presence we spent a lot of time at the university really focused on how to be in a room how to own a room how to have confidence while you’re in a room that you may not have felt like you should be in but you have to own that
Room anyway coming to you live in direct this is david bowers from howard university the mecca enterprise community partners and a proud hand member i want to tell you about the importance of hbcus in my life it was professors like gene rice kane hoffelde cartwright davis kelly brown douglas
Who impressed upon me the importance of fighting for justice of fighting for all of god’s people my name is catherine buehl and i am the director for the ambush on housing equity fund and i had the distinct pleasure of attending spelman college i am a third generation hbcu graduate my grandmother and grand
And mother went to hampton university i followed my brother who attended morehouse college and i am here to speak the praises of attending in hbcu being able to attend spelman college which is an all-women’s college allowed me to have um real love passion pride for being a black woman i’m yolanda
Mccutchen vice president of public relations at the d.c housing finance agency and a proud graduate of hampton university hampton’s motto is the standard of excellence and excellence is what i learned and took away from hampton to strive for excellence achieve excellence and accept nothing but excellence my name is solomon hughes i
Am a multi-family loan underwriter with dchfa i am a sean university graduate and alumnus my hbcu experience has shaped my leadership skills by giving me the capacity and audacity to reach organizational goals further build and enhance my skills as well as develop a sense of humanity and ethics
Hello my name is sydney vaz i’m the director of portfolio asset management here at dchfa i attended morgan state university in baltimore maryland uh attending a hbcu has definitely prepared me my adult life started with responsibilities accountability and self-motivation my name is michael hentrell i’m the general counsel at the district of columbia
Housing finance agency and i attended the howard university school of law the two lessons about leadership that i hold most dear from howard is one is to always be prepared it’s the old adage you have to be twice as prepared to get half the success that was drilled into us from from day
One uh the second thing is that as leaders we are obligated to create future leaders so we have to look for opportunities to create leadership opportunities for though for those people that we leave and those that work for us hi my name is kiami estep i’m the director of
Procurement and corporate resources here at d.c housing finance agency i graduated from coppin state university originally kauffman state college coppin has set the foundation and changed my life tremendously it gave me the first opportunity to be a leader by being a part of so many student-led organizations and clubs i got the
Opportunity to be on sga start my own organizations and just meet with tons of like-minded individuals who then groomed me to be the leader that i am today hi i’m jeff cooper svp portfolio and asset management i attended elizabeth city state university where obtaining a degree in business administration concentration with the management
Leadership skills obtained at the university was primarily due to great leadership and professors encouragement enlightenment just reassuring me that i was capable of almost anything hello my name is yasmine jackson i’m assistant general counsel at the d.c housing finance agency my alma mater is howard university howard university was a great learning place
For me i was able to be in a community where i could be rooted in my identity and culture and that helped me to build the confidence to be able to pursue a career in the legal field hi my name is clarence watson i’m a senior asset
Manager here at dchfa i’m also a howard alum i want to ask the question how did my hpcu experience inform my leadership skills i’d have to say that our university school of business required and demanded that students like myself develop leadership skills and most importantly three essential skill sets
Communication creativity and influence i am brittany jordan and i am an assistant general counsel at dc hfa and i am a double alum of howard university howard university has really instilled in me the confidence to lead boldly and with excellence many people know who have attended hbcus that faculty staff your professors are
Often time personally invested in your success and they cheer you on when you succeed and they hold you accountable when you may fall short and so i have really taken that with me to be excellent in all that i do go hampton pirates go pirates go bulldogs go pirates let’s go bigs
Go eagles go bison and ski wheat to my sorority but we’re going to end my friends where you know it all starts the mecca h u u You
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